Anderson Ranch Arts Center has named Helen Molesworth as its inaugural curator-in-residence.
Molesworth has been working with Anderson Ranch since summer 2017 when she took part in a critical dialogue on Black Mountain College on the Snowmass Village campus. She was chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles from 2014 to 2018.
“I’m excited to work with the team at Anderson Ranch to foster the open exchange of art and ideas crucial to our contemporary moment,” Molesworth said in the announcement. “Part art center, part artist colony, part best summer camp ever; the Ranch’s community of practicing, teaching and learning artists is a terrific place to test drive new ideas, engage with some of the leading artists of our time and ask the questions that all of us should be exploring in today’s world.”
The curator-in-residence job is a new post for the Ranch, which retooled its leadership structure as it brought on its first president and CEO, Peter Waanders, last month. The Ranch previously had an executive director at the top of its leadership. Molesworth, inaugurating the new rotating role, will work in tandem with Waanders to shape the artistic vision and programming of the Ranch.
“We’ll rely on her lofty ideals and her deep knowledge of the art world to assure the impact we have on artists, art-making, collectors and students is fresh, new and meaningful,” Waanders said in the announcement. “I am confident this will further our mission to enrich lives with art, inspiration and community.”
In her role at MOCA in Los Angeles, Molesworth organized the large group show “One Day at a Time: Manny Farber and Termite Art” and critically acclaimed Kerry James Marshall and Anna Maria Maiolino exhibitions.
Recommended Stories For You
From 2010 to 2014 she was the chief curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, where she assembled exhibitions of artists Steve Locke, Catherine Opie, Josiah McElheny and Amy Sillman, and the group exhibitions “Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957,” “Dance/Draw,” and “This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s.”
Her writing has appeared in publications such as Artforum, Art Journal, Documents, and October.
As curator-in-residence, Molesworth will advise on curatorial topics, goals and standards for the Ranch to ensure topical focus and artistic excellence across programs. She also will act as an ambassador to promote the Ranch’s place in the local, national and global contemporary art world.
Molesworth will present “What Does Art Do?” with Simone Leigh at Anderson Ranch this summer as part of the 2019 Critical Dialog program.